Is there any open source Javascript based PDF Viewer available? Any guide to developing this kind of script that renders PDF docs would be helpful.
+3
A:
I think the answer is No on both counts.
This page describes some viable alternatives for embedding PDF content in a website. They are:
- Google's Reader
- Adobe's PDF reader APIs
- Various open source wrappers for the above two.
I have serious doubts about whether it would be viable to implement a PDF viewer in Javascript that would:
- be secure,
- be reliable,
- perform well enough to be usable, and
- work on multiple browsers.
Stephen C
2010-08-22 02:56:05
Performance is really the only problem, everything else is theoretically possible.
casablanca
2010-08-22 03:05:52
"theoretically" being the operative word. In practice a project like this is way beyond what a typical lone developer can achieve. That's what I mean by "viable".
Stephen C
2010-08-22 03:13:17
Stephen can we think of any other web based reader for PDF files? keeping in mind all the issues that you have raised security, reliability and cross browser compatibility. Since most of the readers available today are mostly flash based. Even Scribd the popular document sharing website is using flash for it's PDF rendering technology, but now they are converting all the documents to HTML5. I want to develop a reader that can render PDF files but the don't rely on Adobe's Flash. Any other alternatives apart from the ones you mentioned would be highly appreciated.
mjb
2010-08-22 19:11:08
+1
A:
You can use the Google Docs PDF-viewing widget, if you don't mind having them host the "application" itself.
I had more suggestions, but stack overflow only lets me post one hyperlink as a new user, sorry.
Charles
2010-08-22 02:58:30
A:
There are several PDF viewers you can access via Javascript. WOuld that meet your requirement?
mark stephens
2010-08-22 18:48:04
A:
Well it's not even close to the full spec, but there is a JavaScript and Canvas based PDF viewer out there.
Russell Leggett
2010-08-23 12:28:36